This invention relates to three wheeled vehicles and more particularly to an improved drive arrangement for such vehicles.
Three wheeled vehicles presently enjoy large popularity for off the road use. Such vehicles normally include a steerable front wheel and a pair of driven rear wheels. Large low pressure tires are mounted on all of the wheels to facilitate use in a wide variety of terrains. Because of their off the road use, these vehicles are subjected to considerable stress. Because they are operated off the road, however, they should be readily durable so that they will not fail in a remote location. One area where such units are highly stressed is in the mounting and driving arrangement for the rear wheels.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for supporting the rear wheels of a three wheeled vehicle.
It is another object of this invention to provide an axle arrangement for a three wheeled vehicle wherein the unit loading is substantially reduced from prior art devices.
Again, because of the extreme use to which off the road three wheeled vehicles is put, it is important to provide some device for preventing damage to the transmission and/or engine under extreme conditions. Although it has been proposed to employ an overload release mechanism in the drive train of a vehicle so as to minimize such damages, the overload release devices previously proposed have resulted in increased complexity of the drive train and/or transmission
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved driving arrangement for a three wheeled vehicle.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a three wheeled vehicle drive arrangement that embodies an improved, simplified overload release mechanism.
In many types of arrangements, it is desirable and necessary to provide accurate location for the axial position of a rotating element. For example, in bevel gear drives or similar gearing arrangements, the axial position of the gears to maintain the proper meshing relationship is critical. It is normally the practice to employ shims for adjusting the axial position of the gears. The use of shims for this purpose not only complicates assembly, but also presents problems during servicing.
It is, therefore, a further object of this invention to provide an improved and simplified arrangement for axially locating a rotating element.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved and simplified arrangement for maintaining the desired relationship between a pair of meshing gears.